Fitness Magazine Blogger Meet & Tweet

The day consisted of a series of informational sessions, as well as the opportunity to talk with a number of vendors that were sponsoring the event, including Reebok, Oakley, and about 10 others.

I was really excited about the Oakley booth because I’ve been wanting to get some workout sunglasses for awhile now. My dad gave me a pair recently that he wasn’t using, but Matt wanted to steal them, so I was looking for some new ones. Perfect timing! We were given a pair to test out so I’ll let you know my thoughts — I love that they look like stylish sunglasses, but made for working out!

Besides perusing the vendors, one of the big highlights of the morning was meeting Mia Hamm!

I think women of all ages know her name — especially those of us that grew up looking up to her in the 1990’s. I was honored to meet such a strong and amazing role model for female athletes everywhere.

She was signing little soccer balls for everyone, and since Matt is a big soccer player, I had her sign it for him.

So cool! I texted Matt that I got Mia Hamm to sign a soccer ball for him and he was like “Whaaaaat?! No way!”

I also attended a nutrition-related session talking about some myths related to carbs, cleanses, and caffeine, hosted by Fitness’s Nutrition Editor Juno DeMelo, along with local NYC RD’s Keri Gans and Tanya Zuckerbrot.

The info was much more basic than I was hoping for (and all stuff I already knew), but I guess with the broad audience that makes sense — obviously not everyone has just taken advanced nutritional biochemistry like me. Bottom line from what they said:

Carbs are good for you when they are un-refined and whole grain (or in vegetable/fruit form)

Cleanses aren’t necessary as the body is perfectly efficient at cleansing itself — it’s more important to just focus on good nutrition (and fiber) to keep things running smoothly

And, awesome news: caffeine may help your performance if you have some right before exercising. Yay!

After the session, it was time for lunch! I was impressed with it — I guess it makes sense that a fitness-related conference would have healthier food options for lunch than most, though.

I had a bit of everything — some delicious salad, fruit, a grain salad, plus some salmon. Yum! They also had freshly made lemonade, complete with mint. Fancy!

There were also great snacks available throughout the day, which I appreciated — Go With the Grains had a table of various breads, nut/seed butters, and some unpictured hummus and guacamole out for most of the day — their raisin bread was AMAZING.

And there was also an afternoon snack break of some cute veggie cups and mini cookies!

A good bit of the event also involved networking and socializing! It was fun to see old friends and meet some new ones, too. Here I am with Theodora, Sarah, Ashley, Julie, Courtney, and Tina.

And again below with Julie, Courtney, and Tina! Everyone got the blue memo, apparently.

In the afternoon, there was a session about “How to Turn Your Blog Into a Business” with Kelly Olexa (founder of FitFluential) and Carla (miss Mizfit)!

As well as my friends Julie and Tina!

Proud of them. Bottom line: work hard, put yourself out there by pitching yourself to companies and media outlets frequently, utilize all forms of social media as much as you can to increase visibility, and don’t be scared to hear “no” when you ask for something. Try, try again!

The session was led by a woman named Reign Hudson, who was awesome. Very fun, high energy, and motivating! Hilarious, too. The class was 45 minutes and called Tabura, which Reign described as a mix between African dance and kickboxing. Interesting combo, right? Fun drum music, too.

We were all expecting this workout to be pretty low key since it was at a conference and for a big group (hence us doing the morning boot camp before the day began) — well, we were very wrong! Within minutes, Reign had us sweating bullets, jumping all over the place, punching and kicking and dancing like crazy. What a blast — and a great workout, too!

I had to get a photo with the instructor after, of course.

The rest of the evening was spent with a big group of bloggers at a fun Mexican place in the meat packing district called Tortilla Flats. I didn’t get any photos except for this one of the cool ceiling decorations since it was really dark, but I shared a platter of chicken fajitas with Theodora and they were delicious. Great chips and salsa, too!

A bunch of us ended up at a cool beer garden nearby for a nightcap drink after dinner. Fun night!

This morning, Theodora, Tina, and I all dragged ourselves out of bed at 6 a.m. to go for a run. We were all really tired and debated bailing, but I knew that once we got out there we’d be glad we did. I never regret a workout — I just regret skipping them.

Plus, I wanted to check out this beautiful route along the water that Theodora always blogs about! It was even more gorgeous in person.

We ended up running for 45 minutes total — we’re thinking we covered a little over 5 miles. It felt good to get out there, especially with these views!

And what would an early morning run be without an awkward early morning half asleep photo?

Thanks for the great start to the day, ladies!

Time to get some work done before we arrive in Boston. Have a great Thursday, everyone!

I just posted this comment on Tina’s blog, but the Metropolitan Pavilion is right below my office (literally, it looks like you guys were on the 4th or 5th floor? I’m on the 6th), I was out of the office yesterday, but I can’t imagine how surprised I would have been to see some of the bloggers I follow in the elevator!

This looks like such a cool event! You ladies are so lucky that you got to attend! You all look fab and I admire all of your blogs. Have fun in my hometown city of Boston. You are going to love the Reebok headquarters! It’s really something else!

Hi ! I just found your blog so far and I love it ! Can’t wait to read more And I also have a very important question for you: where did you get your “will run for bacon” t-shirt ?? I absolutely NEED to have it !!

Nice summary – love the photos! Agreed that some of the speakers were great for a general audience but for fitbloggers who study this on their own, could’ve gone more in depth or broached more controversial issues. But had such a fun day meeting, learning, tasting, and working out! I’d love to do Tabura again. Also loved meeting you at Tortilla Flats after – stay in touch!

Connect With Me

I'm a Washington D.C. area Registered Dietitian (RD) with a Masters of Public Health in Nutrition from UNC-Chapel Hill. I'm a marathoner, (whole) foodie, yogi, CrossFit-er, and lover of sunshine, photography, travel, adventure, and healthy recipe creation.

Interested in private nutrition counseling? Check out my business website, AnneTheRD.com. I work with both local and virtual clients.